Whenever the word crèche is used an image of small children singing and laughing is automatically conjured up in one’s mind.
The passion, patience and commitment to operating such a business is hardly ever the first cognitive association made with anything relating to the Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector.
One of the women who own and operate businesses often under extreme conditions, for very little profit and yet with such a mammoth responsibility and lasting future impact – that of ensuring the optimal development of generations to come.
With the world having been under siege from the coronavirus pandemic and its accompanying consequences, adapting, learning and surviving for a post-coronavirus-private-and-business world, expanding one’s skill set is now more imperative than ever.
It is for this reason that Saldanha Bay Municipality (SBM) in conjunction with Whole of Society Approach (WoSA) partners ABSA Bank, Grassroots and the Department of Social Development have decided to collaborate on Business and Financial Management training. Specifically targeting the registered ECD sector in the hope of providing practical real-life-based business and financial training sessions to enable a higher-quality service offering in a post-coronavirus world.
Training sessions commenced at the Multi-purpose Centre in Saldanha from Monday 9 May until Friday 13 May. In Vredenburg from Monday 16 May until Friday 20 May. Sessions will be conducted with practitioners over a period of two weeks, totalling 60 on conclusion.
Ethne Lawrence, SBM spokesperson, said considering the impact Covid-19 has had on the entire ECD sector and registration hurdles faced by the unregistered portion of the sector without the “safety blanket” of registered status, it becomes clear an investment in skills development within the sector would go a long way to ensure survival, but enable the sector to become stronger.
